Naranga Achar/Lemon Pickle

Do you love pickles? Condiments and pickles are surprisingly easy to make and are a must-have in my kitchen. Zesty and hot lemon pickle adds a punch to any meal. It goes well with steamed rice, curd rice or Rotis.This recipe is for those who love pickles and who have nostalgic feelings about homemade spicy, tangy and intensely lemony pickle. Most Indians will agree that pickles are an inevitable part of our lunch.

This pickle is made by stuffing the spices into whole lemons, the way it is made by my grandmother and aunts. There is a great nostalgic feeling to this kind of lemon pickle. Grandmother used to make big jars of a stuffed whole lemon pickle when lemon trees in the backyard were harvested. She used to take out her huge ceramic pickle jars called bharanis to fill up with homemade pickles. If this pickle is made in the right way has a shelf life for about a year. The more it matures the better it tastes.

Pickles are an integral part of Kerala Sadhya. Lemon pickle is one of the main pickles served along with ginger and mango pickle. I have already posted an easy to make lemon pickle / vadukapuli naranga curry with wild lemon.

For this recipe, you can use any kind of lemons of your choice. Small lemons are the best. I also find Meyer lemons taste delicious in pickles. They do not have the acidity and tartness and when fried the lemon skin is more tender than regular lemons. The frying is an essential part of this recipe making the process. It enhances the flavor and there is intense lemon fragrance and adds depth to the complex flavors of this pickle. The other flavors come from fenugreek seeds, hing, gingerly oil, garlic, and ginger. Vinegar adds the tang to this zesty pickle. Try this yummy pickle, you will surely love it.

Tips to make lemon pickle
It is important to fry the lemons. If you want it low calorie, you can also stuff the whole lemons with the masala and fill the jar till the top with the masala. This will take longer time to mature, but you can get almost the same results.
If you wish to avoid this frying process, you can steam it till the skin becomes soft or just cut lemons and sprinkle salt and keep in air tight container for one or two days before making pickle, but the shelf life of this pickle will be less.
Try frying whole lemons. Do not cut into smaller pieces for frying, because the lemons will start oozing out water.
I have used a mix of regular chilly and Kashmiri chilly which is less spicy and gives a good color to the pickle. Dry roasting the fenugreek powder and hing will enhance the flavor of the pickle.

Stuffed lemon pickle recipe

Cooking time- 10 minutes
Recipe type- pickle
Cuisine- Kerala/ Indian

Ingredients
Lemon -10( medium sized)
Salt- as needed
Turmeric powder- 1/3 tsp
Chilly powder-1/2 cup
( add according to your spice tolerance)
Fenugreek powder- 1 tbs
Asafoetida- 1 tsp
Garlic pods 8-10
Ginger- 1 inch thick

Sesame oil- 1/2 cup
Vinegar-1/3 cup

Wash lemons and wipe them completely dry. Heat half of the oil in a deep pan and when it is hot carefully slide in the whole lemons and gently fry them till skin becomes soft and tender. It will also changes and shades to slight golden brown.Drain the lemons from the oil and keep aside. let it cool down completely. Do not discard the oil

Step 2: Heat the rest half of the oil in a pan. Add chopped garlic and ginger and saute till the raw flavor disappears. Switch off the flame and add the dry ingredients- chilly powder, turmeric powder, salt, fenugreek powder and asafoetida and mix well. Put this back in low flame and stir for just a few seconds. Allow this to cool a bit.

Step 3:Take half of the masala and mix with vinegar and the oil that you used to fry lemons. Mix this and keep aside.
Use the rest of the pickle masala to stuff the lemons.Take each lemon and slit open. Do not cut it all the way through.With a spoon take little of the masala and stuff into the lemon. Repeat the same process with all the lemons. Now pour over the top of the lemons the reserved vinegar spice mixture. Allow this to cool down completely before transferring into dry air tight containers. You can start using the pickle after 10 or 15 days.